Monday, May 21, 2012

the perfect day, followed by a not so perfect day

Yesterday was perfect, today, not so much.
Yesterday morning, got up made breakfast (eggs, bacon, and muffins).
We logged onto northpoint online and had church over breakfast and on the couch in our living room. It was really nice to do "church" from home with the kids sitting with watching or playing quietly nearby. We then got ready for the day, packed a picnic lunch, and headed to the mountains to go hiking.

almost to the top

taking in the view at Buzzard's Roost

We hiked 1.5 miles up to the summit of the Sharp Top and had a picnic lunch.
The day was warm and sunny and absolutely beautiful.

the view at the top

Abbott Lake below, where we got married

After the hike we walked around the lake at the bottom of the Peaks and then headed to a nearby city for an early dinner at our favorite restaurant, Chipotle. After dinner we walked over to the Fresh Market and grabbed some goodies before heading home.

Sharp Top in the background, can't believe Lily made it all the way up there

we strolled along the lake after hiking 3 miles, we decided we need to come back and explore more on a day when we weren't tired from hiking

It was the perfect day.
Today was not that day.
This morning Lance did not want to go to school, he said he was sick, he said his throat hurt, his head hurt and he couldn't go to school (he was sick on Friday with fever, headache, and sore throat). We told him he was not sick and he was going since he didn't have a fever. He then complained that he was very itchy and we then looked down at his legs and realized he wasn't going to school, at least not right away. He looked like he had leprosy, his legs were covered in pink welts, it looked awful. We first thought it was poison ivy from our hike yesterday, but then we discovered some welts on his back and shoulders where he would not have had contact with poison ivy. I did a quick google search of hives and poison ivy and neither really looked like his rash, then I read about scarlet fever and got a little nervous (sore throat, headache, rash, all his symptoms once again the rash didn't match). I called the doctor as soon as the office opened since we needed to find out what to do about his rash, he couldn't go to school and it looked too awful to wait it out, we got an appointment 45 minutes later. We took Lily to school and headed over to the doctor. By the time we saw the doctor at 9:45 his rash had practically disappeared, we were very frustrated, how was the doctor suppose to figure out what was wrong if there was no rash to show him? The doctor did look at the few spots that remained, took his blood pressure, listened to his chest, and did a thorough exam and then gave us the typical doctor answer: Hives with unknown cause. Hives caused by a virus, an allergen, or just a fluke. Since he hadn't had any new medication or new food, there was no way to tell what caused the hives. He said that they would come and go for the next couple of days or they might stay gone, no telling, not the answer I was hoping for. I shouldn't say that, I am thankful that it wasn't something serious like scarlet fever, but it is never fun either to get the "it's just a virus" response. So we left the office and took Lance to school. That morning Lily had been complaining that her tongue hurt and that she was sick and could not go to school. We hadn't really paid much attention to her because we just thought she was copying Lance like she does, but when I picked her up from nursery school, I noticed she felt warm and after taking her temperature I soon discovered she was running a low fever. I wasn't surprised Lily was ill since Lance was just running a fever Thursday and Friday. So I now have one child with hives and one with a fever. The good news is we might be able to find out if the hives is caused by a virus if Lily breaks out on Thursday or Friday or we may never know. So today was not the perfect day Sunday was, but then days like today make days like Sunday perfect.